Can Bing’s new features help it challenge Google?

Microsoft’s Bing search engine has unveiled a new suite of features designed to make searching easier and more convenient with previews of sites and a larger emphasis on localised news and results.

But the changes won’t necessarily help the site gain any new market share and the site is still struggling to keep up with its main competitor, Google, an SEO expert says.

The changes, which have been announced over the past two days, affect how the search engine uses content from pages in order to display more comprehensive previews in search results.

When a user searches for a particular item, Bing now extracts data from pages and places them on the results screen, allowing a user to find data without ever entering a site – a feature Google has been using for several months.

And in an attempt to localise search results, detailed weather reports will also play a part in search queries.

Additionally, changes to search methods mean users searching for a holiday destination will now be given information about appropriate tourist attractions, accommodation and suggested activities.

Pictures of destinations and previews of information will also be displayed on the search results page, in a new feature Microsoft has labelled “Bing Travel”. Flight recommendations are also provided, along with a price predictor that advises the cheapest times of the year to fly.

Bing Travel also aggregates contact details of accommodation and tourist attractions, displaying them in a separate box on the search results page.
Bing Maps is also undergoing some changes, with users now able to calculate and redirect routes recommended to them by the search engine.

Meanwhile, a new feature will see Bing integrate its results with answer-engine “Wolfram Alpha”. When a user posts a question, the information will now rely on Wolfram Alpha for certain queries, including ones regarding mathematical calculations.

The changes come after Microsoft has introduced a number of other updates to its relatively new search engine, including the ability to index Twitter pages in search results.

However, it has come up against opposition from Google, which announced a similar program just hours after Microsoft introduced its changes. Additionally, Bing is still struggling to gain market share, holding only 9.57% of the market compared to Google’s 70%.

Jim Stewart, chief executive of SEO firm Stewart Media, says simply adding features won’t necessarily help Bing in the long run in getting an advantage over Google.

“I would really like some strong competition in the search engine space, but I know that it’s just not happening. The traffic just isn’t there, and it has only gained slightly since it started.”

“There is just so much more that I am getting from Google. They are ahead in universal search, and I am getting things like blogs, news, videos and pictures all in one result, and it’s a hell of a lot better than what we get from Bing. They’re still tweaking things at Bing, and that’s understandable… but I’m not seeing the benefits.”